Outdoor Play

My husband often says, “When in doubt, let’s go out!” I believe getting outside, even for a brief period of the day, is a very important part of raising healthy, active, adventurous children.

But it’s not always easy! In my stomping ground, good old New York, it’s cold for a fair portion of the year. We all have our own reality—mine in the winter is:

1. 12 boots 
2. 12 gloves 
3. 12 hats 
4. 12 scarves 
5. 12 coats 

Although we do engage in fun winter outdoor play (stay tuned, we’ll write about that on One Sassy Doctor in the future!)—the start of spring & summer really do boost the mood of the entire family. Welcome sunshine and warm weather! Whoo hoo!

This is the first part of our One Sassy Doctor series on Outdoor Play! We’ll discuss water play, land play, developmental aspects of outdoor play and—most importantly—safety.

For fun, we asked some of our Twitter followers: “What is your favorite summer outdoor activity with your baby/toddler?” Here are some of the fun responses!

• Bree (@glamourmom): Favorite outside activity is our water table! So much fun and good developmental skills learned. It’s a win/win at our house. 
• sakuralulu (@sakuralulu): Cheapest and simplest is often best!! Paintbrush and a cup of water and let them go wild. Of course this is for more mobile bub 
• Marcus DeGraw (@MarcusDeGrawMD): Sandbox 4 sure!!! 
• Mimie (@BabySparks1): Playing in the kiddie pool! 

Follow me (@PLAYTHISWAY) and Sassy (@sassybabytoys) on Twitter for more opportunities to answer questions for upcoming blog posts!

One Sassy Doctor recommends:

• Suds & Sun Visors